Mental health issues not just for elites athletes

The mental health struggles of high-profile athletes have been widely reported, particularly over the past several years.

However, it’s not just professional, elite athletes who struggle with mental health issues.

As a former competitive swimmer, I remember well the nerves I experienced before events. Not meaning to be crude in my description, but I spent too much time in the bathroom dealing with my anxiety. When the event was over, I returned to a calm disposition, only to face the same nerves before the next competition.

All athletes experience nerves, even the young athletes you may be parenting or coaching, or the kid down the street. It wouldn’t be normal if they didn’t. But when the condition becomes an every day, all-day problem, one that invades many segments of their lives, that can lead to major health concerns.

Are the mental health struggles of young athletes a new phenomenon, or has it just been hidden in the back of the closet for years?

“I think one could say it is a ‘phenomenon’ based on the simple aspect that people are now recognizing that mental health issues exist and it can happen to anyone,” said Bill Dean, CEO and founder of COSMH, LLC.

COSMH works with parents, schools, organizations and their student-athletes to provide support, tools and coaching directly to families in creating a mental health safe environment and developing maintenance plans.

“The normalizing of it at the youth level is important,” Dean said. “Anxiety exists in all of us. How we handle anxiety from day to day, game to game definitely impacts one’s performance. From a brain development perspective, youth in sports are constantly developing their default reactions to stress and obstacles.

“As coaches transform their coaching style and parents embrace these challenges as normal, a young baseball player can learn how to ‘take a deep breath’ or ‘focus on the trademark of the bat’ before stepping into the batters’ box.”

Why have athletes’ mental health suddenly come to the forefront? Has the youth sports culture changed to cause this?

Dean said social media has played a significant role in this awakening of the problem, along with so many professional athletes going public about their own struggles and challenges. As a result, young athletes have begun to recognize and identify with the same situations.

“We all know (and I say this with concern and sarcasm) that being in the AAU or USSSA scene for a young athlete can be every bit as stressful as playing professionally,” he said. “Maybe more so. What are we doing about it?

“Educating parents, coaches and officials or organizations to offer side by side programming that compliments the mental fitness and wellness training, in addition to the skills and physical training aspects is a good starting point.”

Signs of mental health struggles can be isolative behaviors, changes in appetite, poor sleep patterns, overly concerned body images, increased explosive responses to normal conversations and sudden disinterest, to list a few.

“Signs should be treated like the dashboard lights in your vehicle,” Dean said. “If you respond accordingly when the light first goes off, the solution, remedy or fix is usually pretty straight forward. If you ignore or dismiss the signs and ‘tough it out’, a simple fix usually turns into a much more complicated issue.”

Dean said athletes themselves can address their mental health issues.

“Love life and be multiple,” he said. “It seems very simple, and it should be. Love each day the best that you can and if you are having struggles in any area ask for help — academically, in relationships, in fitness and working out. Enjoy every day.

“Secondly, play all sports early on and also engage in other activities — band, choir, scouts, volunteer time. As young people increase the social groups and settings around them they will increase the skills and interaction needed for development. Bust open that cocoon and LIVE.”

Coaches and athletes also have a responsibility in assisting their young athletes in dealing with mental health issues. Dean said both need to create a mental health safe environment by completing a family, team and organizational check list.

Dean emphasized sharing daily life regimens that create mental wellness such as healthy diets, healthy habits of walking, playing outside and community involvement to create and increase that sense of self-worth and giving. If the adults don’t model it, from where will young people learn it?

The mental wellness of young people is so important, not just for young athletes, that it can’t all be covered in one column. I plan on addressing this issue in the future and for however long it takes to get information distributed.

Nancy Justis is a former competitive swimmer and college sports information director. She is a partner with Outlier Creative Communications. Let her know what you think at njustis@cfu.net